There's just something slightly alien to the X-mini, and this latest "Happy" model does little to assuage our unfounded fears of it. What's new this time around is MP3 playback, thanks to an SD card slot. Size and shape-wise it's almost identical to its X-mini II predecessor. Happy can handle about 6 hours of playback, or 11 hours of speaker work, on a charge, and the USB cable not only charges the ball but also allows the unit to work as a slightly-less-difficult-to-misplace SD card reader. You can also still daisy chain Happy speakers like with the X-mini II. Happy is currently in prototype stage, and should hit the market sometime around Q3.

Review

Thursday July 8, 2010

Mighty little speakers

Don't let the size of the X-Mini Happy speaker fool you as it is louder than it looks.

PORTABLE speakers are a dime a dozen but they aren't known to produce quality sound. However, unlike most other speakers in this category, the X-Mini Happy attempts to shed that image by taking an innovative all-in-one solution that combines a powerful portable speaker with a built-in MP3 player.

The idea is quite brilliant and it works with practically any music playback device be it your music phone, iPod or iPhone.

The Happy is uniquely designed, fits just about anywhere and also folds up into a compact ball shape when you need to fit it into your pocket for travel.

There aren't any buttons around the sides of the speaker except for a single mute button. In fact, the speaker relies solely on a small jog dial for nearly everything it does. You hold it to switch it on/off and twist it from side to side to skip to the next track. But aside from that it doesn't do anything else.

On the bottom side of the speaker is a very short line-in cable that can be stowed by wrapping it around the edge of speaker.